Frenetically unhinged yet delightfully chaotic, satisfyingly unpredictable and never monotonous: this has been mostly the case with these Aussies. Lest we forget, Psycroptic's "The Scepter of the Ancients" was indeed one of the most convoluted death metal albums to sprout up in 2003 and three years later the Tasmanian devils don't seem to be settling for a respite.

For the uninitiated, Psycroptic churn a gripping blend of extreme musicianship, mainly driven by abrasive staccato riffing and frenzied drumming minus the excessive US death metal worship. Being an eyebrow-raising piece of tech-death, _Symbols of Failure_ is an album that needs to be taken in a number of times to fully appreciate its complexity through every small instrumental twist. Technically proficient, Psycroptic never settle for textbook dabbling and slot a fair number of different elements in their sound, giving a textured layout to their compositions. There is a certain groove which crops up from time to time; not that being any sort of a stale, pseudo-core breakdown, but rather a rhythmical groove more reminiscent of their Texan counterparts. Guitars carry less of an impact comparatively, although what they lack in bulk they make up in sheer technical exploitation, whilst the drum-work is still lambasting and diverse as always.

Being of a rather restless nature; there are times where pinch harmonics and sweep-picked guitar passages rapidly swing from one tempo / time signature to another and others where the lads are content with simply bombarding our ear-drums with throbbing brutality. Not a palpable album music-wise by any measure, it doesn't possess a single standpoint upon which one could infer a safe categorization to fit this innovative outfit into. However, it's still remarkable how some bands manage to sound so blatantly "death metal" and yet being so profoundly un-derivative at the same time and Psycroptic, third time round now, have once again proved that they're one of them.